New Bike Day!

New Bike! - 2022 Fairdale Weekender Archer in Gloss Black

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Seatpost Decal

Glamour shot out in the wild.

Warning: Bike Nerdery Ahead

I upgraded the stock 1x drivetrain to a 2x wide range and installed my Moosetreks frame bag. I've been chasing this bike for a couple of years, but it never quite worked out. This year's updates to the model including geometry and drivetrain changes, plus the gloss black colorway made it a must-buy for me. I've been riding it for about 2 weeks.

I like Adventure Bikes. I like Steel Bikes. I love Steel Adventure Bikes. They are so versatile and comfortable. I like to see the world from the saddle of a bike and climb way up in the hills. I'm not a racer, so I don't really give a shit about bike weight. I'm 5' 11" and weigh 190 lbs. I ride almost every day commuting, running errands and whatnot. This bike, out of the box, which includes the pedals it came with, plus the SKS Velo 65 Mountain fenders that I added, weighed in right @30 lbs. My other steel adventure bike, a 2016 Ritchey Ascent w/ 700c x 40mm tires, pedals and fenders weighs 25.5 lbs. There is 5 lbs. of tires and tubes on the Weekender as it comes stock. So, there is a good opportunity to reduce rolling weight. With that said, it doesn't feel like it weights that much. And, the tires roll quietly and quickly. I'll replace them when I wear them out and probably go tubeless since the wheelset supports that with tape and tubeless valves.

I knew going in that a 1x drivetrain wouldn't have enough range for stuff I like to do. I ride with panniers and/or bikepacking bags. I also pull a single wheel bike trailer on errands or tours. This bike came with the MicroSHIFT Advent 9 speed 1x drivetrain, which was better than the SRAM x5 9 speed they also offered. Both builds come with the same crank, an FSA Vero Pro 1x w/ a 42T narrow-wide chainring. Even with the Advent 11-42T cassette setup, a low gear of 1:1 just wasn't going to cut it for what I want to do. But, it was better than the SRAM setup of 11-36 in the rear and there were options from MicroSHIFT available aftermarket...

Before buying the bike, I did some research. MicroSHIFT have a front derailleur for the Advent 9 speed drivetrain which has 16T of capacity and a long cage rear derailleur with 47T of capacity. The Advent front derailleur is designed to work with the Advent rear derailleur only. This bike came with the medium cage rear derailleur which has 41T of capacity. I planned on going with a mountain double in front w/ 28/44T and keeping the stock 11-42 cassette. I had reached out to MicroSHIFT to find out if what I wanted to do was going to work and was given the thumbs up from them. Then, I found a seller who had the Advent drivetrain version of the bike and ordered it.

I bought a set of FSA Mountain Pro chainrings in the aforementioned 28/44T combination. These rings work as a shifting set. There is also a 38T "big" ring which works with the 28T as well. I purchased the aforementioned front and rear Advent derailleurs as well. I took the Race Face Ride XC cranks that I had on the Ritchey Ascent and moved them to the Weekender. I put the FSA 1x crank on the Ritchey, along with my Schwalbe Marathon Winter 700x42mm tires and will ride that on the days things are icy/snowy this Fall/Winter.

After mounting everything up on the Fairdale and indexing the derailleurs, everything shifts like a dream. It's even quieter and smoother than the 1x due to a better chainline. This wide range 2x9 has almost as much range as a 3x9 11-34 w/ 22/32/44 rings. There is only a half a gear step difference on the bottom end. I'm super-happy with it.

Additionally, the Weekender is compatible with 29x2.1" tires. I have another wheelset and some CST Patrol 29 x 2.1" tires. The Ritchey Ascent is also compatible with the 27.5" x 2.0" tires and wheels the Weekender came with, which is another reason I bought it. Versatility for the win.

TLDR: I bought a bike and modified it to make it better.